Bridge to Terabithia (2007) |
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Bridge to Terabithia (2007) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Family |
Menu Animation & Audio Music Video Featurette-Behind the Book Featurette-Digital Imagination Audio Commentary-Director, Writer & Producer Audio Commentary-Stars & Producer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2007 | ||
| Running Time | 91:39 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (55:09) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Programme | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Gabor Csupo |
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Studio
Distributor |
Walden Media Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. |
Starring |
Josh Hutcherson Annasophia Robb Zooey Deschanel Robert Patrick Bailee Madison Kate Butler Devon Wood Emma Fenton Grace Brannigan Latham Gaines Judy McIntosh Patricia Aldersley Lauren Clinton |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Aaron Zigman |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes | ||
Bridge to Terabithia tells the story of Jess (Josh Hutcherson), a young boy (about eleven) who lives in a semi-rural community in the US. His family are not well off, with their farm no longer providing enough income, forcing his father (Robert Patrick) to work at the local hardware store. He is one of five children, the other four all being girls. He feels like an outcast in his family and also at school, a situation which is exacerbated by having to wear his sister's hand-me-downs. His interests are pretty much confined to drawing, running and trying to avoid the bullies who make his life difficult. A new girl, Leslie (Annasophia Robb) arrives at his school and attracts his attention due to her beating him (and all the other boys) in a running race and by showing herself also to be outside of the school's mainstream. Her parents are writers who have moved out of the city to focus on their work. She is quite imaginative and something of a writer herself. They quickly become friends and start spending lots of time together, exploring the local woodlands. At her suggestion, they start to develop an imaginary world called Terabithia which they access by swinging across a small river on a rope. They rebuild an abandoned treehouse and start to have imaginary adventures in the woods, which are inhabited by imaginary creatures, who bear striking resemblances to the bullies and other people who make their lives difficult. They use this imaginary world as a mechanism to cope with their real lives which becomes more important as the story continues. Zooey Deschanel also features as a young music teacher, Ms Edmonds, whom Jess has a crush on.
This film was shot in New Zealand and features the excellent work of the Weta Digital people for the various creatures. One of the big surprises for me in this film was how sparingly used the creatures were. I was expecting something much more like Narnia where the children enter a completely imaginary world. It is actually refreshing to see a film which has excellent effects but then only uses them as required by the story. In one of the extras, the author explains how important this was to her. The two young leads do excellent work in this film delivering warm, believable and heartfelt performances. Without resorting to sledgehammer tactics, this film teaches excellent lessons about acceptance, dealing with loss, trust, self-esteem and being your own person.
Another wonderful part of this film is an excellent set of opening credits featuring hand drawings and some of the wonderful score by Aaron Zigman. The film is also very well shot by Michael Chapman, the twice Oscar nominated DOP of films like Raging Bull. Incidentally, this film is a co-production of the people behind the new Narnia films, Walden Media and Disney.
Highly Recommended.
The video quality is excellent.
The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.
The picture was wonderfully clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise or grain of any description. The shadow detail was very good.
The colour was extremely well rendered despite the subdued colour palette. There were no colour blemishes of any kind.
I would like to say that I did not notice any artefacts, however, I did notice some very minor aliasing on a grille at 33:57. There was also some minor blur on camera pans.
There are English and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles available. Both are clear and easy to read.
The layer change occurs at 55:09 and is not noticeable.
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| Shadow Detail | |
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| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The audio quality is very good.
This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 384 Kb/s.
Dialogue was very clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.
The score of this film by Aaron Zigman is excellent, featuring mostly orchestral and choral works. A number of pop songs (some sung by the cast) are also included.
The surround speakers were very well used for atmosphere, music, the wind storm at 25:30, animal noises, the troll at 36:30 and more.
The subwoofer is also well used for things such as troll footsteps and the music.
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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The menu features an introduction, some minor motion and the music of the score. The Disney Fast Play function is also included which automatically plays the film and some extras after the disc is inserted.
The main song of the film as sung by its young co-star.
Interviews with the cast, the author and various children's literature experts about the book and its themes. Not bad.
Discusses Weta's role in the production and the author's desires regarding use of effects. Detail of how the characters were created is also included.
A quality commentary which covers casting, trivia, shooting, ADR done to Americanise some minor characters' voices and a wide variety of other topics. Good stuff.
Another quality commentary, this time obviously with a younger bent. They are interesting and surprisingly well spoken. They joke amongst themselves but also impart some useful information.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
On this basis lets just call it a draw.
The video quality is excellent.
The audio quality is very good.
The disc has a reasonable selection of extras.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
| Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
| Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer |